(Montreal) In a difficult context for all printed newspapers, The Journal of Quebec announced that it will no longer be printed in Quebec.
The daily will be printed in Mirabel in the same facilities as The Journal of Montrealanother daily from the Quebecor empire, announced the publisher and editor of the Quebec newspaper, Sébastien Ménard, in a note for readers published Thursday. The printing press of Quebec newspaper will be acquired by Quebecor Media Printing in the coming weeks.
Mr. Ménard described the decision as “difficult”, but “necessary”. “This decision is in the same vein as that which other press groups from here and elsewhere have had to take, in recent years, in order to be able to look to the future with optimism,” he said. -he says.
The editor blames “unfair competition” from web giants, which win a large share of the advertising market, as well as competition from the state-funded Radio-Canada.
The context is difficult for printed newspapers. Printing costs are coming under inflationary pressures at the same time that some of their ad revenue has migrated to web giants like Facebook and Google.
At the beginning of December, The Journal of Quebec and The Journal of Montreal announced that they were stopping printing their Sunday edition as of the start of 2023. In October, Postmedia discontinued printing the Monday edition for nine of its publications, including Montreal Gazette.
The Association of Printing Employees Quebec newspaper welcomed the decision “with sadness,” in a statement. The union affiliated with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (SCFP-FTQ) declined to comment further so as not to harm negotiations with the employer. The closure results in the loss of 21 jobs.
“The union must carry out an in-depth analysis of all the angles of the situation,” explains the union adviser, Marc-André Roy. We must enter into negotiations with the employer in order to assert the rights of the employees. We will not comment further on the news so as not to harm these important discussions. »